Folder for web printing presses



July 2, 1940. H. c. JORDHOY 1 2,206,607

, FOLDER FOR WEB PRINTING PRESSES Filed May 6. 19s"! 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR HA NS CJomwo ATTORNEY y 1940. H. c. JORDHOY 2,206,607

FOLDER FOR WEB PRINTING PRESS ES Filed May 6, 193'? v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR hA/vs C.J0R0H0Y Patented July 2, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE FOLDER FOR WEB PRINTING PRESSES Virginia application May 6, 1937,Serial No. 141,153 11 Claims. '(oi. no in The present invention relatesto delivery signatures from folders for web printing presses and has foran object to provide a novel folder of simple construction readilyadjustable for difierent printing conditions.

In printing presses which employ a plurality of printing surfacesdisposed circumferentially around the printing cylinder, it is commonpracties to so arrange the printing that several different signaturesmay be printed at each revolution of the printing cylinder; Thus, ifthere are eight pages around the cylinder, four pages may belong to onesignature and the remaining four to another. For this kind of a press itis desirable to employ a folder that will separate and collect thedifferent signatures and deliver each kind separately, and it is anobject of the present in"- vention to provide such a folder.

Another object of the invention is to provide a 20 folder which may beadjusted to run either straight or collect. In other words, either todeliver single sets of sheets to the jaw cylinder or to collect doublesets of sheets for delivery to said jaw cylinder, thereby doubling thenumber 25 of pages in the signature.

When running fcollect, one signature will be delivered per revolution ofthe jaw cylinder and when running straight, two signatures. It is anobject of my invention to provide driving gear for the deliverymechanism whereby its speed of operation may be adjusted either forstraight or for collect operation of the folder.

The folder will be found particularly useful with printing presses ofthe type disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 138,675,filed April 24, 1'- 37, in which provision is made for running printingcylinders of different diameters, one being preferably double thediameter of the other or some other multiplethereof. My invention isadapted to take care of the printed product from such interchangeablecylinders without requiring complicated adjustment of the foldermechanism.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear in thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment and thereafter thenovelty and scope of the invention will be pointed out in the claims.

in the accompanying drawings;

Figure 1 is a view in end elevation of my improved folder;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the collecting cylinder of the folder;

Fig. 3 is a side view. of one end of the collecting cylinder;

is a set of pins 36.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the jaw cylinder of the folder; and,

Fig. 5 is a side view of one end of the jaw cylinder. r

In Figure 1, I show part of a press frame strucc ture Ill on which thefolding mechanism is mounted. This folding mechanism is driven by thepress drive shaft l2 through a pair of miter gears 13 and M. The gear Mis fixed upon a transverse shaft it which extends across the folder andis suitably journaled in the press frame. From shaft 15 power istransmitted through a series of spur gears to a set of parallel shafts26, 2! and 22 on which a cutting cylinder 23, collecting cylinder 24,and jaw cylinder 25 are 1 respectively mounted and fixed. The spur gearsabove referred to are not shown in the drawings because they are at thefar end of the folder, as viewed in Fig. 1, but it will be understoodthat the pitch diameters ofv the spur gears on shafts 20, 2| and 22coincide with the diameters of the cylinders 23, 24 and 25,respectively, so that the cylinders run at the same surface speed.However, the cylinder 24 is half again as large in diameter as the othertwo cylinders and turns clockwise, as viewed inFig. 1, while cylinders23 and 25 obviously turn counter-clockwise.

The printed web W enters the folder between two pairs of nipping rollsEli-21 and 2829, which are driven by suitable gearing from the 30 shaft26, the rolls 21 and. 29 being spring-pressed against rolls 26 and 23.From the nipping rolls the web passes down between the cutting cylinder23 and the collectingcylinder 24.

. In the particular embodiment illustrated the circumferential extent ofthe cutting cylinder is equal to four printed pages,and two knives 32are carried by the cylinder,180 degrees apart, so that the web will becut off in two page sheets. The

collecting cylinder is provided with the usual flexible inserts orcutting rubbers 34 against which the knives of the cutting cylindercooperate to cut the web.

The collecting cylinder 25 base, six page circumferentialmeasure, andhence the cutting rubhere 35 are located respectively 120 degrees apart,being shown at positions A, B, and C, in Fig. 1. Located immediatelyback of each cutting rubber The pins are projected through grooves 31 inthe cutting rubbers, just 5 back of the cutting line, so that as eachsheet is being severed, the leading edge of the web will be impaled bythe adjacent set of pins and will be carried around thereby on thecollecting cylinder. Mounted on the collecting cylinder midway projectsfrom the outer face thereof. Fixed on between-the cutting rubbers aretucking blades 38 which serve to tuck the sheets into the jaws of thejaw cylinder 25.

The pins 36 normally project from the cylinder sufficiently to impalethe web, but each set of pins must be retracted when the paper carriedthereby is picked off by the jaw cylinder. To this end three rods 4!]are provided, one for each set of pins, said rods extending the fulllength of the collecting cylinder and being journaled in opposite endsthereof. Clamped to each rod are cranks 41 which carry'pivotpins 42',one for each pin 36 of the set. Each pin 36 is secured in a holder 43mounted to slide endwise in the cylinder and formed at its inner endwith a transverse .slot 44 through which a pivot pin 42 is passed. Thus,all the pins 36 of a set may be retracted by turning the rod 40 .towhich they are connected, in clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2.

Each rod 40 projectsfrom the front end of the collecting cylinder andhas a bell crank 45 clamped thereto. One arm 46 of the bell crank isnormally urged against a stop 4? by a spring 48 mounted on aslidableguide rod 49 pivotally connected to said arm. The spring 48tends to turn the rod ll] in counterclockwise direction so as to projectthe pins 36 to impaling position, and the stop 41 is adjustable tocontrol the extent of such'pin projection. The other arm 50 of the bellcrank bears a roller 5! which is adapted to ride over a cam 54, therebyturning the rod 418 clockwise, that is, in such. direction as to retractthe set of pins 3'6 connected to said rod.

The cam 54 is supported in a predetermined position with respect to thejaw cylinder, so as to cause the withdrawal of each set of pins from thepaper they carry when such paper is seized by the jaws of the jawcylinder. As long as the cam 54' is maintained in operative position itwill lift each roller 52 as it comes around, and thereby retracting thesets of pins .36 successively. However, when running collect, as will beexplained more fully hereinafter, the pins must remain in projectedposition to retain the sheet carried thereby until they havepicked up: asecond sheet, after which they are retracted to release both sheets asthey are seized by the jaw cylinder. In other words, only alternaterollers -5I that reach the release position are operated by the cam.This result is obtained by intermittently withdrawing the cam from itsoperative position shown in Fig. 1. The cam 54 is bolted to an arcuatecrank arm 56 fixed upon a pin 51 which is pivoted in the press frame andthe projecting end of the pin 51 is a depending arm 59. The cam may bewithdrawn from operative relation to the rollers by swinging the arm 59clockwise from the position shown in full lines to that shown in brokenlines in Fig. 1. A compression spring 69 mounted on a guide rod 6|,normally urges the arm 59 toward the broken line position, but whenrunning straight the arm 59 is heldin its full line position by a latchpin 62 which fits into a socket formed in a plate 64 secured to thepress frame. The latch pin may be withdrawn from said socket and removedor locked out of operation, so that the spring 60 may withdraw the cam54. 'The cam- -54 is then moved periodically to operativepositionagainst the pressure of spring to by means of an eccentric 65fixed upon the shaft 20. -A strap 66-on this eccentric is provided with.a tubularstem-68 which telescopes a rod 10 pivoted to the outer end ofthe arcuate crank arm 56. Adjustable on the rod I0 is a nut 12 which maybe secured in adjusted position by a jam nut 13. The nut 12 is pressedagainst the end of the stem 68 by action of spring 60 on arm 59, so thatthe cam 54 will be obliged to advance to operative position at eachrotation of the shaft 20, as long as the folder is running collect. Whenrunning straight and the cam is locked in operative position the stem 68will reciprocate idly on the rod 10.

Since the collecting cylinder 24 makes two rotations for three rotationsof the shaft 20 it will be obvious that the cam 54 will be movedoutwardly at each advance of the cylinder 24 through an angle of 240degrees, or twice the angular spacing between the sets of pins carriedby the collecting cylinder. Hence the sets of pins 36 as they arrive atthe release point C will be alternately retracted or allowed to passthis release point without retraction.

The jaw cylinder 25 has a circumferential ex tent of two sheets, or fourpages, and is provided with two sets of jaws disposed 180 degrees apart.Each set comprises a movable jaw 15 and a fixed jaw 16. Each movable jawis fixed upon a jaw shaft ll which may be turned to swing the movablejaw away from the fixed jaw 16. In order to effect such movement of jaws75 each shaft ll projects from the end of the jaw cylinder and has acrank arm 18 secured thereto. The crank arm bears a roller '49 adaptedto engage a stationary cam mounted upon a holder 8| fastened to thepressframe. Each movable jaw 15 is spring-pressed toward the fixed jaw16, butv is forced away from the fixed jaw as its As shown in Fig. 4, apawlBZ is fixed to a hub This hubcarriesQ 83 mounted on the shaft 22. apoppet 84 through which one end of a rod 85 is slidable, the other end.of the rod being pivoted at 86 to the cylinder 25. A spring 81 on therod has a toggle action on the hub tending to hold the latter in eitherof two positions, one being shown in full lines and the other in brokenlines. When the jaw cylinder is adjusted for running straight the hub 83is moved to the broken line position, and the pawl 82 then rests idlyagainst a stop .pin 83. To adjust the jaw cylinder for collect operationthe pawl 82 and hub 83 are swung to the full line position, If, at thetime the adjustment is made, the jaws are closed, a tooth 89 on the pawlwill bear against a lip 91] projecting from the adjacent crank 18 sothat when roller ill on this crank mounts the cam 80, the lip 90 will beswung inwardly, permitting the tooth 89 to slip over the lip 90 therebylocking the adjacent jaw '15 in open position.

The operation of the mechanism so far described will now be explained,first as adjusted for running straight and then as adjusted for runningcollect. To adjust the folder for running straight cam'54 controllingthe pins 36 of the collecting cylinder is locked in operative positionby latching the arm 59 in the full line position shown in Fig. 1. Thepawl 82 of the jaw in, broken lines in Fig.4, sothat both pairs of jawswill be operative As explained above'the' web W'passing betweencylinders Hand 24 is cut.

oil in two-page lengths and the leading end of the webds impaled uponthe set ofv pins 36 just back of the cutting point. These pins holdtheweb against the collecting cylinder from position A to position B,when a two page length of the. web they are holding is cut off at A, andthe new leading edge of the web is impaled by the next of said pins 36now at position A. However, the pins at position B will continue to holdthe severed sheet upon the collecting cylinder until they reach'the.position C, when a one page length of said sheet will have reached thepoint at which said sheet is about to be picked up by the. jawcylinder.The tucking blade 38 at this point will then tuck the center margin ofthe two-page sheetbetween the adjacent pair of jaws l5-llion the jawcylinder 25. The movable jaw 35 of said pair is then released from cam80 and will grip the fold of paper tucked between the pair of jaws,while at the same time the set of pins 36 at the leading end of saidsheet will be withdrawn by cooperation of their roller 55 with cam. 5

The sheet thus released will be drawn off thecollecting cylinder by thejaw cylinder. In this way, each two-page sheet will be transferred fromthe cutting point directly to the jaw cylinder.

To adjust the folder for running collect the latch pin 62 is withdrawn,so that cam. M may be swung into and out of operative position by theeccentric 65 and spring 8d. The pawl 82 is also swung to thepositionshown in Fig. 4 whereby the jaw l5 adjacent said pawl will belocked out of operative position. Now when the leading edge of the firstsheet reaches the position C it will be pushed between the adjacent pairof jaws by a tucking blade-38 but it will not be seized be.- causesaidjaws are locked open. Also, thepins 38 will not release the sheetbecause the cam 54 will then be in retracted position. Hence the pins 36will drag the sheet around to position A where they will pick up asecond sheet. The two sheets, one overlying the other, will not bereleased until said pins again reach the position C. In the meantime jawcylinder 25 will have made one and a half turns, bringing the activepair of jaws into position to seize the two sheets as they aretuckedtherebetween, and since the shaft 25] will.

also, have made one and a half turns the cam 54 will now be projected bythe eccentric to operative position to cause retraction of the pins. Inthis way, each set of pins 36 will be retracted only upon every secondpassage thereof past the position C and at each second passage the pinswill becarrying two sheets. Also, at each rotation of the jaw cylinderthe operative pair of jaws will.

reach thetucking position only when there are two sheets to be gripped.thereby.

The folded sheets or signaturesv picked up. by the jaw cylinder arecarried over to the. opposite side thereof and then are released as therollers E9 mount the cam 80. Strippers 92 withdraw the signatures fromthe jaws and are. extended. to guide the signatures down past atimingroll 95, thence through slitters 96, and finally through a pair ofrollers 91. The rollers 9? run at an ac. celerated speed and serve. todeliver the folded books into buckets 9d carried by a set. of chains l063* which. run. around sprockets m2, I63 and Hi l. Each bucket is timedto reach receiving position as a signature comes through the rolls 91.

It will be. obvious that when running. straight? two signatures will bedelivered for each rotation ofthe jaw cylinder 25 and when runningcollect there will be only one delivery for each rotation of saidcylinder. Hence, it is necessary to run the bucketschains at twodiiferent speeds. This condition is taken care'of by providing atwospeed drive. To this end, a-pair of gears m5 and lot are fixed upon adrive shaft H17 and mesh respectively with a pair of gears I08 and itwhich turn on a shaft H0. The relative diameters of thesegears are. suchthat gear I08 will rotateat twice the speed of gear I09. A clutch,

ll! ona shaft Hi1 may be operated by a clutch lever H2 to couple: theshaft Ill] either to gear M38101" gear' Hi9. Thus, when running straightshaft Hilwhich carries-the sprocket wheels m2, isdriven by gear W3, andwhen running collect is, driven at half speed by gear. Hi9.

Eachsignatureis retained in a delivery bucket 99 and carried along bychain I00 until it is.

either forced out by a timed stop I H3 or by a fixed stop H4. The timedstop 3 is so arranged that it will empty every other bucket, but will bemoved out of the way of intervening buckets. When a signature-is forcedout by the timed stop ll3 =it will drop upon an upper beltor conveyorH5. and be: carried thereby to a delivery point. The nextbucket,however, will carry its paper past the stop I I3 which is-then ininoperative position, until it encounters the fixed stop i it. Thelatter will force thesignature out upon alower belt or conveyor H! whichruns to another delivery point. It will beuunders-tood that thebuckets'are fastened to individual chains Hill which run side by sideonthe sprockets m2, m3, and M4,; and: the stops operate between said.

chains.

The timed stops H3 are withdrawn from operative position by a cam I20which is fastened to the shaft 121 on which the sprockets Hi4 aresecured. Pivoted to. a bracket I23 is a bell crank comprising an armLIZEon which a. roller 126 is pivotally mounted; This roller runs in agroove l2! formed in said cam 20. The other arm I28 of the bell crankcarries the timed stop H3 and the shape'of the cam. groove is such as toraise the time stop i Mom of operative position to clear every otherbucket. The delivery belts are driven by pulleys Hi0 and I3!respectively,which have worm gear connection to shaft I32, and thelatter in turn has worm gear connection to the sprocket wheel shaft IZL.Thus, the entire delivery mechanism may be sped up for running straightor slowed down for running collect by operating the clutch lever H2.

In the foregoing specification for the sake or clarity I have referredto the web W as if it were a single continuous sheet of paper, but itmay and in practice would usually consist ofa plurality of webs or of aweb slit into ribbons and the latter laid one upon the other. Thus, inspeaking of single? sheets and two sheets picked upby thecollecting-cylinder, it will be understoodthat when a multiple web or aplurality of ribbons are run throughthe. machine, the socalled singlesheet will actually consist of a set of superposedleaves obtained at asingle cutting of the web, and theso-called sets of two sheets willactually consist of two such cuttings from the multipleweb, one cuttingbeing superposedupon the other While I have described a preferredembodiment of my invention this is to be taken as illustrative and notlimitative and I reserve the right to make various changes in form,construction, and arrangements of parts without departing from thespirit and scope of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

,I claim: A

?l. A device of the character described, comprising meansfordischa'rging sheets, a single conveyor provided with a single seriesof buckets, means timing the travel of the conveyor with respect to thedischarging means whereby the single set of buckets will be broughtsuccessively into position to receive the product discharged, a pair ofdelivery belts, and means for discharging such product from the bucketsupon said belts in alteri nation.

2. A device of the character. described, comprising means fordischarging signatures, a conveyor provided with a single line ofbuckets, means timing the travel of the conveyor whereby the individualbuckets will be brought successive- 1y into position to receive saidsignatures, a pair of delivery belts, and means for discharging saidsignatures from the buckets upon said belts in alternation.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a conveyor providedwith a series of buckets, means timing the travel of the conveyorwhereby the bucketswill be brought successively into position to receivethe product, said buckets 1 'being narrower than said product wherebythe latter will project laterally from the buckets, a pair of stopsdisposed respectively at spaced fixed delivery'points along the path ofthe conveyor, each stop being adapted to engage the projecting productand eject the same from the buckets, timed means for periodicallywithdrawing the forward stop of the pair to clear theproduct carried byalternate buckets, and a pair of separate delivery conveyors positionedrespectively to re ceive the product ejected by said stops.

4. A device of the character described, com-' prising means adapted tocut off sheets from a web, means adjustable at will to fold anddischarge said sheets either singly or in multiple,

4 thereby varying the rate of discharge in inverse proportion to thenumber of sheets in each discharge, a conveyor provided with a series ofbuckets, driving gear for the conveyor adjustable with respect to saidrate of dis charge whereby the conveyor may be timed to bring saidbuckets successively into position to receive the product dischargedfrom the folding means, and means controlling delivery of said productfrom the buckets to a predetermined de- -3. livery station.

5. A device of the character described, comprising means adapted to cutoil sheets from a web, means adjustable at will to fold and di chargesaid sheets either singly or in multiple,

.- thereby varying the rate of discharge in inverse proportion to thenumber of sheets in each discharge, a conveyor provided with a series ofbuckets, driving gear for the conveyor adjustable with respect to saidrate of discharge whereby the conveyor maybe timed to bring said bucketssuccessively into position to receive the product discharged from thefolding means, and means adapted to discharge the buckets alternativelyat different points along the conveyor.

6. A device of the character described, comprising means adapted to cutoff sheets from a web, means adjustable at will to fold and dischargesaid sheets either singly or in pairs, whereby the rate of discharge ofthe single sheets will be double the rate of discharge of the pairs ofsheets, a conveyor provided with a series of buckets, a two-speeddriving gear for the conveyor, a controller for said gear operable toadapt the speed of said conveyor to the rate of discharge of the foldingmeans, whereby successive buckets will be brought into position toreceive respectively successive products discharged from the foldingmeans, and delivery means adapted to empty said buckets and convey saidproducts to a predetermined delivery station. 7. A device of thecharacter described, comprising means adapted to cut off sheets from aweb, means adjustable at will to fold and discharge said sheets eithersingly or in pairs, whereby the rate of discharge of the single sheetswill be double the rate of discharge of the pairs of sheets, a conveyorprovided with a series of buckets, a. two-speed driving gear for theconveyor, a controller for said gear operable to adapt the speed of saidconveyor to the rate of discharge of the folding means, wherebysuccessive buckets will be brought into position to receive respectivelysuccessive products discharged from the folding means, a pair ofdelivery belts timed to the speed of the conveyor and leadingrespectively to two delivery points, and means for .discharging theproduct from the buckets upon said belts in alternation.

8. A device of the character described, comprising means for dischargingsheets of paper, a traveling conveyor adapted to receive the paper thusdischarged, two other conveyors and means for discharging said paperfrom the first conveyor conveyors,

9. A device of the character described, comprising a traveling conveyor,means for discharg-- ing signatures upon the conveyor, a pair ofejecting means at spaced points along the line of the conveyor forejecting the signatures from the conveyor, two other conveyors, andmeans adapted to discharge such signatures alternately on thelast-mentioned conveyors.

10. A device of the character described, comprising means fordischarging sheets, a conveyor provided with a series of buckets, meanstiming the travel of the conveyor with respect to the discharging meansso as to bring the buckets successively into position to receive theproduct discharged, a pair of delivery belts, and means for dischargingsuch product from the buckets alternately upon said belts.

11. A device of the character described, comprising rneans for cuttingoff sheets from a continuous web, means for folding and discharging saidsheets, means for slitting the folded sheets into sets of signatures, aconveyor provided with sets of buckets and movable in a direction tomove the bucket upwardly toward the slitting devices and to then turnthe bucket into vertical position directly under the slittingdevice,means timing the travel of the conveyor with respect to the foldingmeans whereby the sets of buckets will be brought successively intoposition to receive said signatures when they drop from the slittingdevice, a pair of delivery belts, and means for discharging said sets ofsignatures from the buckets upon said belts in alternation.

HANS C. JORDI-IOY,

